Two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were fighting, and Tian Jue had escaped in the chaos?
Yu Yuanzhen instinctively felt that something was a little off, but he couldn't put his finger on what.
Still, aside from that possibility, he couldn't think of how else Tian Jue could have escaped the tiger's jaws.
As for the First Soul Ring Tian Jue had obtained...
Yu Yuanzhen instinctively furrowed his brow. Without him overseeing the Soul Ring, he really wasn't at ease.
"Release your Martial Soul. Let me see your First Soul Ring."
Yu Tianjue nodded and released Xiao Hei as instructed. The next instant, an eerie purple glow abruptly blossomed before Yu Yuanzhen's eyes.
That was... a purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring!?
Yu Yuanzhen blinked instinctively. He'd almost thought that his mind was still muddled after fighting the Hundred-Thousand-Year Ice Bear King, and that he was seeing things.
A thousand-year first ring... He'd never heard of such a thing before!
This completely overturned everything the Soul Master World believed!
After all, the great sects and clans had arrived at the limit for a Soul Master's First Soul Ring through years of practice: a little over four hundred years. Beyond that limit, a Soul Master's body couldn't withstand the Soul Ring's energy, resulting in irreversible consequences.
Yu Yuanzhen took a deep breath to steady himself, then fixed his eyes on the purple Soul Ring beneath Yu Tianjue's feet. "Tell me in detail how you obtained this Soul Ring."
"After escaping from that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, I didn't dare delay. I picked a direction and ran. Before long, I spotted a Mystic Ice Earth-Splitting Dragon that was badly injured and unconscious from the shock. So I killed it with the dagger you gave me, Grandpa."
"But the Soul Ring that appeared before me was purple. I'd planned to give it up, but Xiao Hei actually took the initiative to draw in and absorb the Thousand-Year Soul Ring. Maybe because the Soul Beast had lost all consciousness, I didn't encounter much resistance while absorbing it."
Yu Tianjue repeated the explanation he'd prepared in advance.
After all, he couldn't exactly say that Ice Empress had gone to so much trouble to capture him just to make a Soul Beast sacrifice itself to him.
Compared to the explanation he'd come up with, the truth would clearly be much harder to accept.
After hearing everything Yu Tianjue had to say, Yu Yuanzhen's expression grew complicated.
Tian Jue's luck... really was blessed by the heavens!
First, he'd been kidnapped by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, only for another Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to appear and fight it. Then, while escaping, he'd run into a Thousand-Year Soul Beast that was both perfectly suited to him and grievously wounded, unconscious. He hadn't even encountered much resistance while absorbing its Soul Ring!
A powerful Soul Master's path to growth was never without luck. Soul Rings, Soul Bones, and even rarer External Soul Bones all depended in part on luck.
So although Tian Jue's luck was heaven-defying, it... didn't seem quite so hard to accept after all.
"Release your First Soul Skill and let me see what it does."
It took Yu Yuanzhen a while to accept reality, but a hint of anticipation had also crept into his heart.
The Mystic Ice Earth-Splitting Dragon was a relatively rare ice-attribute sub-dragon. In terms of attributes, it was an excellent match for Tian Jue's Martial Soul. And since it was a Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Tian Jue's First Soul Skill was certain to be much stronger than other people's.
At Yu Yuanzhen's request, Yu Tianjue didn't hold back.
"My First Soul Skill is called Ice Dragon Rending Charge. It can be used at both close and long range."
As he spoke, the purple Soul Ring beneath Yu Tianjue's feet suddenly began to shine.
To Yu Yuanzhen's astonishment, Xiao Hei's body burrowed straight into the frozen earth beneath it.
But the next instant, Xiao Hei burst out from the ground beneath Yu Yuanzhen's feet, sending chunks of ice and rock flying as it unleashed a powerful shockwave.
Amid the rumbling crash of shattering rocks, Yu Yuanzhen stood motionless. A faint blue-violet barrier quietly faded beside his feet.
The shockwave hadn't hurt Yu Yuanzhen in the slightest, but it had still left him shaken.
The power of this First Soul Skill was almost on par with an ordinary Soul Master's Third Soul Skill... Although it looked simple, it could burrow underground to launch a surprise attack, and even unleash a formidable shockwave. It was already an excellent Soul Skill.
What was more, according to Tian Jue, this Soul Skill also had a long-range attack form.
Yu Yuanzhen clasped his hands behind his back and paced a couple of steps. Then he turned and stopped, his gaze blazing. "Use your Soul Skill on me again. This time, let me see its long-range attack."
Yu Tianjue took a deep breath, and the eerie purple Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up again.
At the same time, Xiao Hei excitedly lifted its head and suddenly spat out a straight column of icy-blue light, wrapped in surging cold and frost. Like an ice arrow loosed from a bowstring, it shot toward Yu Yuanzhen.
Wherever the beam passed, the air seemed to crystallize into tiny shards of ice.
Yu Yuanzhen's pupils contracted slightly.
The Soul Skill's power was nothing to him, but the burst of icy force was enough to freeze an opponent at the Soul Grandmaster level in an instant, then shatter them.
Truly worthy of a Thousand-Year First Soul Ring!
An Innate Full Soul Power Mutated Martial Soul, heaven-defying luck, a thousand-year first ring...
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was finally going to rise!
At last, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan could climb higher among the Upper Three Sects!
Yu Yuanzhen breathed out a mouthful of stale air. When he looked at Yu Tianjue again, his eyes held a hint of satisfaction.
"Come on. Now that you've obtained your First Soul Ring, let's return to the clan."
"Once we're back, remember to use a crystal ball to check your Soul Power Level. With a Thousand-Year Soul Ring as your first, your Soul Power Level should conservatively be at least twelve... I never imagined you'd already opened up such a gap between yourself and Tian Heng!"
"If that kid Tian Heng finds out, he'll probably train even harder."
Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Tianjue gradually disappeared into the distance, unaware that a graceful figure had been following them all along.
Snow Empress had said that Tian Jue should live among humans and that she wouldn't interfere with his growth as she had in the dream. But Ice Empress still couldn't put her mind at ease.
So she decided to leave the Far North and follow Yu Tianjue back to that so-called Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, where she could protect him in secret.
As for whether anyone might discover her...
As a three-hundred-and-eighty-thousand-year-old Super Soul Beast, she was confident no one would ever notice her. Even if they did, she was certain she could get away unscathed.
Watching Ice Empress's distant figure, Snow Empress pressed her lips together and let out a soft sigh. Then she turned and returned to the Ice and Snow Palace.
Snow Empress would have liked to leave with her, but the Far North... still couldn't do without her.